Israel: Challenging the Status Quo

Challenging the status quo can be risky business, especially in the turbulent Middle East. What price is there to pay for questioning authority? Three “challengers” of Israel discuss this topic and their experiences at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center (333 Nahanton Street) in Newton on Thursday, March 6 at 7:30pm.

Participating in the discussion will be Admiral Ami Ayalon (pictured), former head of the Shin Bet – Israel’s domestic intelligence service – who criticized Prime Minister Ehud Barak when peace treaty negotiations with Yassar Arafat collapsed in 2000; Gershom Gorenberg, an Israeli journalist and author of The Unmaking of Israel (2011); and Talia Sasson, a special legal adviser to Ariel Sharon’s government who wrote “The Sasson Report” in 2005 that concluded that Israel had discretely diverted money to build West Bank settlements that were illegal under Israeli law.

The discussion will be moderated by Leonard Fein, founding editor of Moment Magazine, author and essayist whose columns have appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, and The Nation.

The event is part of the Jonathan Samen Hot Buttons, Cool Conversations Discussion Series at the JCC – a program of the Ryna Greenbaum JCC Center for the Arts. Cost is $18. Students and seniors: $15. For tickets, contact 617-965-5226, boxoffice@jccgb.org or visit www.bostonjcc.org/artsevents.